


and, in the end, we lie awake, and we dream of making our escape.

by fuckup



Series: the antichrist & the twice blessed [3]
Category: Charmed (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Gen, M/M, Time Travel, Unchanged Future, idfk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-12
Updated: 2017-12-12
Packaged: 2019-02-13 18:18:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12989790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fuckup/pseuds/fuckup
Summary: “No.” Adam admits, and slides his hands into his pockets - these Witches seem to act like they’re a bit safer when he does things like that. Funny that. “But I’m not just someone, you see. I’m the man Wyatt’s in love with.”Piper’s mouth moves, but no sound comes out. From what Adam’s heard of her, he thinks she would’ve taken anything thing else he might have said - up to and including him being the Antichrist - with a pinch of salt, a lot of sass and no pause. Parents get odd when it comes to their children’s love lives, he supposes.AKA the one where Adam talks to a past version of Piper and a present version of Henry Mitchell Jr about Wyatt, doesn't mind all that much that Phoebe tricked him a little bit, and makes an important decision no one else completely understands.





	and, in the end, we lie awake, and we dream of making our escape.

Adam drops in on Phoebe sometimes. He can’t put into words _why_. This mostly works out, since it’s not the type of question anyone who really matters ever asks him. Other than Wyatt, of course, but he gets a purposeful shrug everytime. There’s things that Wyatt can ask him, things that he can’t, and things that’ll make the demons gather ‘round in Adam’s eyes if Wyatt so much lets his thoughts linger on them too long. Most everything about Phoebe Halliwell falls into the last category. 

Passing along his permission to do a spell to protect the cousins from Time Messing had been another matter, of course. Much as he played it with Wyatt, Adam knew she’d feel a bone-deep relief that she could keep her and Paige’s children’s safe from erasure. “But not Chris?” Had been the first thing she’d asked, desperate and pained, the sheen of dullness in her eyes all the evidence he’d need to be sure she already knew the answer. 

He’d nudged at Dog to go over and give her a cuddle when he confirmed it. “His exact words were leave Chris out of it.”

Phoebe had thumped down on to her sofa, closed her eyes tight and put her head in her hands. She hadn’t reacted in any real way to Dog pressing against her side, but Adam had told him to stay close to her anyway. It was the least either of them could do for her, since he could no more circumvent Wyatt’s order than she could. All Halliwells belonged to Wyatt. Not so much Phoebe, who Wyatt had given up rights to when he’d cast her out of his kingdom, but definitely Christopher. Christopher, more than any of the others.

Adam still wonders how he manged to escape to the past without Wyatt’s blessing. 

The spell had been ready within the night. Hen had been the one to bring it to Adam, tramping down the stairs and shoving it into Adam’s hand without so much as glancing at him. Suppose Adam couldn’t blame him. He might be safe as safe could be in Adam’s territory, but there was still Wyatt to consider. He figured Hen didn’t reckon it was right, the way Adam carried on with his oldest cousin. Not with all Wyatt had done, to his aunt and the world both.

That’d been the last time Adam had visited with Phoebe. 

This time, he doesn’t have any news, emotionally complicated or otherwise. This time, he’s just got a _feeling_. It’s the sort of feeling he’d maybe wonder if Phoebe had planted in him, if she hadn’t stripped herself of that power a long time ago. 

So it’s on account of the _feeling_ that he’s not altogether surprised when he ambles into Phoebe’s front room, to find her talking rapidly into what should be a mirror, but is actually a window into the Halliwells’ attic where a woman who shouldn’t stands.

The woman in the mirror notices him first. Her eyes hone in on him hard, wavering between wariness and hope, and her hands are held up, like maybe she wants to touch him through the glass and maybe she wants to use her power on him. “Phoebe… Is that…?” 

Phoebe looks over at her shoulder, her face bright in a way Adam isn’t used to. The way she visibly relaxes a little when she sees it’s him is mildly weird, too. “No, it’s not - This is Adam. He’s helping me. Helping us-” She keeps talking, a stream of words spoken in that wobbling tone that’s not sure if it’s happy or near to tears, but Adam puts that aside so he can stand near the Not-Mirror and take stock of the woman in it.

“You’re Wyatt’s mum, then.” Adam says, and it wasn’t silent the breath before he started talking, but it was the breath _of_. He likes Phoebe, feels more responsible for her than he does most of his people, and he’ll let her get back to her sister soon. But he needs a moment with her for himself. From the reproachful look Phoebe shoots him she knows what he’s done, but aside from a few pointed looks and frantic gestures, she doesn’t seem that upset. Adam figures she knows that this won’t take him long.

“I’m Wyatt’s mom.” Piper Halliwell confirms, and her eyes are narrowing with more suspicion than he’s seen aimed at himself in a long time. “What’s wrong with Phoebe? What have you done to my sister?” Her hands raise up now, definitely in blasting position, and Adam is mildly impressed she doesn’t seem enamoured with him at all. He supposes her being in the past might have something to do with it.

“Nothin’ much. Just wanted her quiet long enough for me to have a bit of a chat with you, so she is.”

Piper’s face does this thing that calls to mind Wyatt in a way that makes Adam’s heart skip. “My sister doesn’t go quiet just because someone wants it.”

“No.” Adam admits, and slides his hands into his pockets - these Witches seem to act like they’re a bit safer when he does things like that. Funny that. “But I’m not just someone, you see. I’m the man Wyatt’s in love with.”

Piper’s mouth moves, but no sound comes out. From what Adam’s heard of her, he thinks she would’ve taken anything thing else he might have said - up to and including him being the Antichrist - with a pinch of salt, a lot of sass and no pause. Parents get odd when it comes to their children’s love lives, he supposes.

“’Course I’m other things as well.” Adam continues on, after waiting a respectful few seconds for Wyatt’s mum to get her bearings back, “But I reckon that’s the part of me that’s most pertinent to you. That, and me being the one who keeps Phoebe and a lot of other people safe.” He takes a moment to think about it, and then nods. “Yeah, that’ll do it.”

Adam realises that his hands are actually clenching into fists, within the confines of his hoodie’s pockets, and he makes an effort to release them before he asks what he’s _really_ wanted to ask someone for a good long time now. “What I wanted to ask you, since you’re here and all, is do you think - being his mum and all - do you think Wy was meant to be a tyrannical overlord? Or do you think someone stepped up and twisted him up to make him like that?” Another pause, and then he offers, quite generously, “Or a third option I’ve not mentioned, if you can think of one of those.”

Piper’s mouth twists unpleasantly. “Listen, buster, I don’t know _who_ you think-”

“Answer him, Piper.” Phoebe interrupts her, and Adam doesn’t have to take his eyes off of Piper to know that Phoebe is leaning forward now, staring intensely at her sister with her big eyes and _pleading_. “He can help you keep Wyatt safe.”

Wyatt’s mum doesn’t seem to hesitate so much as take stock of what her sister is telling her, and making a concentrated decision to trust her. “My son would not turn evil of his own volition.” Piper Halliwell tells him, eyes unflinching, shoulders set, “If he’s like that in Chris and Phoebe’s future, it’s because someone made him like that.”

“What if his mum and some of the rest of his family were murdered?” Adam asks, shameless of what this utterance might do to Piper, deeply curious as he is as to what Wyatt’s mum might say.

Wyatt’s mum doesn’t so much as shudder. “No.” Piper Halliwell says, voice as clear and pronounced as any bell. “He might lose his way for a few weeks, but he would come back to being good. He still had family left. My son would come back to them, to good.” 

Adam is impressed; he’s known Angels with less unshakable faith than this. “Alright then.” He says, and it’s a relief, the way his blood quickens, finally making the decision he’s been on the cusp of for a very long time now. “If He decides he wants Chris back after all, I’ll block him from sending anyone else, or comin’ himself, even. Reckon I can do that much. Chris can handle the rest?”

Piper opens her mouth to answer, but it’s Phoebe that he looks to, Phoebe whose certain nod Adam is pleased by. “Yes. If anyone can stop Wyatt being turned, it’s my sisters and Chris.”

“Lot of faith in a shady whitelighter that lets demons near my baby son there, Phoebe.” Piper butts in. “Going to tell me why that is?” 

“You might as well.” Adam tells her, seeing her indecision torn on her face. “I’m thinking she should forget she ever saw either of us, when you’re done.”

“Hey! If you think you’re just going to-”

Adam turns his back on her, tuning her out as he does. Even though he’s now thinking Phoebe planned this whole thing out, he’ll still give her some privacy with this past version of her sister. His _want_ will kick in as soon as it needs to, draining the memories of this encounter from Piper Halliwell like water in a sieve.

He finds Hen at the bottom of the stairs, sitting on the fourth step from the bottom, and Adam figures he’s half listening to his two aunts talking, half waiting to help Phoebe back up if she needs it. It’s been a long time since she's been able to talk to any of her sisters.

“You’re helping Chris.” Hen says to him, as frank as Adam has ever heard from. Might even be the only thing Hen’s outright said to him. “Why? You like Wyatt the way he is.”

Adam doesn’t deny that. Of course, he doesn’t know how much that says; he’s sure he would _like_ Wyatt no matter if he was good or evil. They’re perfect opposites like that. “He should get to grow up without anyone messing around with his head, trying to make him be anything other than what he turns out to be naturally.” 

Hen stares at him. He manages it for longer than Adam thought he would be able to, before he breaks the stare off and starts picking at the threads in his trousers. “You’re not going to take him away from Aunt Piper and Uncle Leo, are you?” 

“Hadn’t thought of that.” Adam says, and from the way Hen breathes out, ragged and in a rush, he thinks maybe Hen _wants_ him to do exactly that. “Suppose it’d make sense to put him with people who’re just normal, like my mum and dad. Don’t reckon it’d be right, though.”

“Why?” 

“Piper and Leo are Wyatt’s parents.” Adam says, and shrugs. “It’s natural for him to be raised by them. Weren’t natural for Lucifer to raise me.” 

“Nothing about us is _natural_.” Hen says, with a surprising amount of bitterness. “Even me.” 

Adam remembers then that Hen was adopted through highly bizarre circumstances, as well. “Do you want to be adopted by your parents?” He doesn’t _know_ that Phoebe has written a spell that protects Hen’s place in the family, no matter what Chris does, but he reckons she must have. He doesn’t know that there’s anything he could even do about it, if Hen says no, but he’s curious all the same.

Hen snorts. “What kind of dumbass question is that?” From the way Hen freezes, right after speaking, Adam supposes he forgot who was talking to, for a second there. “They’re my family.” He says, very carefully, as if he’s hoping Adam will forget the first thing he said if he speaks slowly enough, “I’d choose them even if they weren’t a choice.”

Adam thinks that’s either a very wise thing to say, or a real dumb one. He thinks of Halliwell, of the first time he saw him, of the last time, too. Of what he’d said to him. He’d said ‘Reckon it was meant to be the other way around’, and for a long time, he’d thought that was right.

He’s had an _idea_ , since then. It’s an idea he’s shared with Crowley since, and Aziraphale, as well. They hadn’t thought he'd seen the way they traded frantic glances, not since he’d been staring off into space like he did, frowning. But he had. They got nervous, a bit, when he got too thoughtful. Sometimes Adam thought that _they_ thought he was going to get tired of this being a benevolent ruler thing, and join up with Wyatt. But it’s not that. That’s not what his idea had been about.

He says it again, now, to Hen, curious in spite of himself as to how Hen will react to his idea, “I reckon I’m meant to be in love with him, too. I think that’s how it was meant to work out.”

Hen looks bewildered. “I thought you _were_ in love with him. Isn’t that why you’re helping with Chris’s plan?”

Adam sighs. He’d been hoping - he doesn’t even know why, but he’d _hoped_ \- that Hen would be the one to _get it_. “Should get going, really. France’s having some trouble again.” He kicks idly at the bottom step, and glances over his shoulder, into the room where Phoebe now sits, dazed and alone, without her ghosts. “Your other aunt’s gone.”

Hen jumps up and wiggles past Adam without a second look.

Adam doesn’t have to lock the door on his way out, but he figures he might as well.

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from Coldplay's 'Death and all his Friends.'
> 
> I'm weird and wanted to keep this crossover in line with canon (more or less), and in canon I always wondered: why DID Wyatt never sent anyone else after Chris? Because... I don't buy the whole 'oh he didn't have that one spell and couldn't write a new one despite being the Twice Blessed' thing. SO I figure part of it was because, like is suggested in ' **I'm just a man with a candle to guide me** ' Wyatt is DONE with his brother, and doesn't think Chris can ACTUALLY save~~ him, and part of it is because he literally _couldn't_ send anyone else back. Which in my world means Adam.
> 
> Anyway, that's my random headcanon ramble for the day.


End file.
